A vignette from the world of The Gamekeeper’s Rabbit

Ammi looks out over the harbour toward the ocean and the distant horizon.

She’s sitting at an ornate table in the bay window of the room that had been her father’s study. She remembers sitting in his lap in the big chair while he told her stories and explained the world to her. She always felt safe here.

“Mama?” The little girl pauses at the doorway before walking across the room to sit next to Ammi at the table.

“Tamsi! Have you finished your lessons for today?”

“Yes, Mama.”

Tamsi’s tutor is standing just outside the doorway. Ammi meets his eye, looks the question, and he nods. She nods in reply, and he turns to leave. Good. Tamsi is sometimes more enthusiastic than truthful about her studies.

Ammi’s father sent her to the Common School – she remembers him explaining why in this very room – but the world is different than it was. Whatever the students were like – and they could be brutal – the staff of the Common Schools used to appreciate having children from the Council families in their classes. They’re actively hostile now.

She thinks of a particular teacher she met when looking for a tutor for Tamsi. The things he’d said, not knowing – not caring – who he was talking to. Tsuka! She’d thought. I’d have you flogged and seared! Perhaps she should have said it.

That reminds me – I must write to Neb.

“Tamsi, would you like to make something? I was just looking at Uncle Neb’s book.”

“Yes please! Can we make an animal?”

Ammi leafs through the soft-bound book, looking for a model of an animal they could make together.

“How about a giraffe, Tamsi?”

“But giraffes aren’t real, Mama.”

“Does that matter? It would be an interesting animal to make.”

“I suppose so.”

Ammi places the book open on the table at the right page, and places small sandbags to keep the pages flat. On the table is a sheaf of paper, each sheet different colours and patterns. Each with the stylised fish of the Hoyan watermark in one corner. She selects a sheet with brown patches on an orange background, and Tamsi selects one with a pale blue background and multicoloured circles of different sizes.

They look at the book together and start folding their paper.